1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data base retrieving method, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for retrieving image information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In most data base systems, a text-based keyword input method has been used to retrieve desired information, regardless of whether the information is text or image. However, in data base systems for still images, it is difficult to find appropriate keywords corresponding to still image information. Further, during retrieval, it is difficult to guess the exact keyword corresponding to a still image. Therefore, an easy method for retrieving still images from the data base is required.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for retrieving image information in a computer.
To achieve the above objects, a controller receives a schematic image input by a user and normalizes the input image to an image of a constant size. A feature vector of each sub block of the normalized image is extracted, and the extracted feature vector is quantized to one of a fixed number of quantizing levels within feature vector space. An image profile indicating the frequency of occurrence of a quantizing level in the feature vector of the input image. A profile of the input image is compared with a profile of each image in an image data base part. An image corresponding to a profile whose similarity is within a reference value is displayed.